Automatic spark-retarding device



1,517,527 B. E. BEARMAN AUTOMATIC SPARK RETARDING DEVICE Filed Avril 3, 1923 $1. 51%, Sammy Patented Dec. 2, 1924.

UNE'I'ED STATEEi BERT E. BEARMAN, or rear soo'rr, KANSAS.

AUTOMATIC SPARK-RETARDING DEVICE.

Application filed April 3, 1923. Serial No. 629,728.

To all whom it on any concern Be it known that I, BERT E. BEARMAN, citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Scott, in the county of Bourbon and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Spark-Retarding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved automatic spark retarding device particularly designed for use upon Ford vehicles and seeks, among other objects, to provide a device which will eliminate back firing of the vehicle engine due to forgetfulness in leaving the spark advanced when the engine is started.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which will be operated by the emergency brake lever of the vehicle which, as is known, also functions for locking the vehicle transmission inactive so that when the vehicle is stopped and said lever is rocked rearwardly in the customary manner, the spark will be automatically retarded.

And the invention has as a still further object to provide a device which will be of simple construction and which may be read ily applied.

Other and incidental objects will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a Ford vehicle equipped with my improved device, parts being broken away and illustrated in section, and

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the device.

As is well known, the engine of a Ford vehicle is often caused to back fire when being started, due to the fact that the driver of the vehicle at the time of stopping the vehicle engine, failed to retard the spark and, before attempting to start the engine, forgot to adjust the spark lever. In any instance where manual cranking has been necessary, this back firing has often resulted in breaking of the arm of the person cranking, by the blow struck by the crank, while upon vehicles equipped with a starter, the starter mechanism has been broken or otherwise seriously injured. The present invention, therefore, seeks to provide a device which will avoid these results. In Figure 1 of the drawings, I have shown my improved device applied to a conventional Ford vehicle, one

side bar of the chassis frame of which is indicated at 10. The emergency brake lever is indicated at 11, this lever being provided with the usual latch 12 to cooperate with a sector 13 fixed to said side bar. The spark control rod of the vehicle is indicated at 14 and the usual lever at the upper end of the red at 15. As is well known, this lever is swung upwardly for rotating the rod in a clockwise direction for retarding the spark of the vehicle engine and is, of course, swung downwardly for advancing the spark.

In carrying theinvention into effect, I employ an elongated yoke 16 which is formed to freely receive the lever 11 therethrough. This yoke may be constructed from a strip of suitable preferably resilient sheet metal having the ends thereof brought together to form a shank and secured between the ends of said strip is a rod 17. Bolted or otherwise secured to the side bar 10 of the chassis frame of the vehicle is an upstanding bearing plate 18 and similarly secured to said plate is a bear ng cap 19 cooperatingwith the plate to form a bearing slidably receiving the rod therethrough. The rod is thus supported to extend substantially in a plane with the side bar 10, the shank of the yoke being offset laterally inward over the bar. Connected at one end to the forward end of the rod is a chain or other suitable flexible element 20,

the opposite end of which is wrapped about the spark rod 14 and secured thereto as by a pin 21.

As will now be seen, when the lever 11 is rocked to its foremost position, as is necessary in order to operate the vehicle, the lever 15 of the spark rod may be manipulated in the usual manner for advancing or retarding the spark of the vehicle engine, and, in this connection, it will be noted that the yoke 16 is of a length to accommodate the full throw of the lever so that when the lever is thus rocked forwardly, said lever will not bear against the yoke to cause rattling. However, when the vehicle is stopped and the lever 11 is rocked rearwardly for rendering the transmission of the vehicle inactive, the lever will pull upon the yoke 16, which pull will be communicated through the rod 17 and chain 20 for unwrapping the chain from about the spark control rod 14 and rotating said rod in a clockwise direction for retarding the spark. The retardation of the spark will accordingly be automatically accomplished so that regardless of any attention on the part of the driver of the vehicle, likelihood of back firing of the engine, when subsequently started, Will be reduced to a minimum. Furthermore, it is to be noted that when the lever 11 is set in its rearmo st position, the device Will serve to lock the spark rod to maintain the spark retarded.

l lavi'ng thus descrilt-et the invention What is claimed as new is:

The combination with a motor vehicle having a manually rotatable spark control rod, and a hand lever controlling the vehicle transmission, oi a retarding rod, a bearing slidably supporting the retarding rod, a flexible element connected to the retarding rod and to the spark rod Wrapped about the latter rod, and a yoke carried by the retarding rod to accommodate said. hand lever therethrough whereby when the lever is'shitted for rendering the transmission of the vehicle inactive, the retarding rod will be moved to rotate the spark rod toward spark retarded position.

In testimony whereof I aiiix "my signa- BERT BEARMAN. Ii-5.

ture. 

